Dinesh Chandimal has been forced to withdraw from Sri Lanka’s Asia Cup squad after it was decided that he needs more time to recover from a finger injury.

Chandimal sustained the injury playing in a domestic T20 match at the end of August. Niroshan Dickwella, who was on the standby list, comes into the squad as his replacement. Dickwella has two ODI centuries from 41 matches in his career to date.

Suspension due to a ball-tampering charge ruled him out of Sri Lanka’s recent ODI series against South Africa. He was expected to return for the Asia Cup but it was deemed that his finger needed more time to recover.

Sri Lanka’s Asia Cup campaign begins against Bangladesh this Saturday. The third team in the group is Afghanistan, with the top two sides qualifying for the Super Four stage.

Sri Lanka host England in a tour containing five ODIs, a solitary T20I and three Tests shortly after the culmination of the Asia Cup. It remains to be seen whether or not Chandimal will be fit for those series.